Mimar

qwovadis, secret forums on TA? Not so secret and very useful, I think, especially the contributions by their Destination Experts. Sounds like you have a grudge.

To the OP, maybe look for another hotel. Is your budget in GBP, euros, or dollars? If dollars, what kind? London is an expensive destination. The Premier Inn County Hall and the Limetree Hotel are a couple of reasonably priced choices that many praise. Or Priceline may be the best bet for you.

greyhavns

$120-$150 US. yeh, i tried the price line bidding. trying to score some last minute deals, but was focusing nearby the westminister abbey area, bloomsbury. wanted something closer than my current notting hill/bayswater area. would love to score the tower for $80/nt.

greyhavns

qwovadis, what was your bidding priority in the zones for priceline?
i've been doing
1. bloomsbury
2. mayfair soho
3. westminister
4. the city and london bridge
would that be your preferred accommodation locations in order of preference?

crckwc1

I frequently use booking.com and have never been negatively surprised or disappointed. I look at pricing, amenities, location, etc., and at the score of the hotel. I've found that 7.5 is usually ok -- depends what you find in the reviews that matter to you ( I couldn't care less if it has a kettle in the room, for instance, but not having one can cause another person to downgrade the hotel). I prefer to find something in my price range with a rating of 8.0 or above. I also read tripadvisor.com and have posted several times on that site. I disregard any review that is the poster's first review. I feel that if a poster has reviewed many hotels, the comments might be more reliable. Just a hunch. Like a previous poster on this thread, I always check the hotel website, booking.com, Expedia, Venere, etc., to see which price is best. I've used all of them and never been disappointed.

corinascot

I think the key to finding a good accommodation is to look at more than one reviewing site or book. I've used tripadvisor for years in the US. I've posted my hotel reviews myself. I've never been steered wrong. BUT, I read lots and lots of reviews. Some of them seem fishy (only 1 post, too much generic praise) so I discount those reviews. I also google search the hotel and see what comes up. I also go to google maps and check out the surroundings on street view. I also look at Fodor's, Frommers, etc. Sometimes I private message people who've stayed at the hotel. My family teases me about my research obsession!

I haven't been to Europe since pre-internet days, so I haven't used Tripadvisor or Booking.com for the UK. I have noticed that, in general, more of the reviews seem fishy to me, especially for London hotels.

wasleys

I think TripAdvisor reviews need to be approached with a great deal of caution. There are just too many gushingly good or crushingly bad reviews from people who signed up on the day they left the review and have made no other contributions since. There are a number of bad reviews from people who got bees in their bonnets about something trivial or irrelevant. Apparently there are an increasing number of reviews praising a particular member of staff by name, apparently some hotels now reward staff on the number of such reviews they generate. However if you look for recent, objective reviews from people with a number of sensible reviews to their name (you can see their other reviews), you can glean some helpful information.

I think qwovadis makes a number of valid points. TA has gone from being a useful user-to-user forum to something controlled by Expedia which is primarily interested in advertising and bookings. It's about quantity not quality. I used to be a regular contributor to reviews and forums but gave up because I became so disillusioned by the number of fake reviews (which management seems to be unwilling to do anything about) and the way in which advertising and booking was coming to dominate the site.

Aduchamp1

We have used Bookings in five countries both for large cities and small towns and have not had a problem with them.

I cannot abide TA. Besides people writing dishonest reviews, good and bad, half the people who write real reviews, have no idea of which they speak. I live in NYC and the TA restaurant reviews are basically written by visitors who have no idea where to get a excellent inexpensive or moderate priced meal.

charlotte_rot

i do the same as NinaSearching

So my process goes something like this:
(1) go to booking.com, put in location + dates, filter by price I want to pay (etc), find 3-4 hotels to investigate further
(2) go to TripAdvisor and read reviews for those 3-4 hotels, narrow to 1-2
(3) go to Fodor's and Frommer's, do search for those 1-2 hotels, narrow to 1
(4) go to that hotel's website, confirm that I like it, also check whether price is better than on booking.com
(5) book either at hotel site or back on booking.com

works most of the times

jon_rwr

I think TripAdvisor is getting a little better. They now seem to listen and check out complaints about suspicious reviews. In the last month they have placed a red warning on the review pages of three Mykonos hotels and removed the reviews that were flagged to them. If you haven't yet seen what the warning looks like check out this hotel:

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Rev..._Cyclades.html

thisblonde

I use booking.com and hotels.com back to back. I am registered with hotels.com so I get a free night after ten stays, which is a good deal. Booking.com is FULL of up to date and valid information. I have stayed in several countries based on recs here and have no been steered wrong yet.

Dislike TA and don't think Fodors has enough (work in progress!)

NinaSearching

@ thisblonde -- Thx for the heads up about hotels.com. I can't believe I didn't know about the 10 nights / 1 night free ... Bummed I didn't know that 3 months ago when I started booking

mindyleek

trip advisor reviews are not at all dependable...i usually google the name of the hotel and the word review...reviews from a variety of hotel websites will appear and i read three or four before booking. i have just started using hotels.com and i cannot say enough good things about their customer service..they will always price match anyone else's price and when a hotel i booked was not what i expected when i arrived they refunded a night's stay, even though we stayed at the hotel. trivago.com is a great website for price comparisons.

unomasalaska

As the owner of a small hotel in alaska I can say without a doubt that trip advisor can be and is used to post false "Customer reviews". One of my stories.
A review of my property was posted listing several complaints the problem was that in describing my place it was apparent that it was written about a different property located down the block. I had no way to get this dropped or reviewed by trip advisor. Stor 2
I have seen comments posted by different members at different dates useing the identical text again no recourse with trip advisor.
Trip advisor seems to prefer negative comments as this appears to add credibility to their site.
Trip advisor also offers paid membership to property owners calling into question the reliability of their reviews. Pay more get better comments.
Dont believe everything you read represented as customer reviews posted by any on line service.
Check to see if subject property has a web site, 800 number ect contact the property directly and ask questions re: poor reviews most properties are glad to discuss poor reviews.
In our case we pay much more attention to negative comments than positive.
Murphys Alaskan Inn

bon_voyage

I've found Tripadvisor helpful. I also gloss over the first-time reviews. For the others, I click on the reviewer's name, see where else they've stayed, and try to determine whether their taste lines up with mine.

patiricia

I always look at the photos on TripAdvisor. I find them very helpful to see what the place really looks like. Then read the reviews with caution.

inquisitive

Does Booking.com really charge your credit card only after you arrive? They say on their site that you can book for reservation now and only get charged once you arrive at hotel and check in.

A_Guy_80

Yes, unless you are getting a special non-refundable room rate, booking.com won't charge your credit card upon booking. If it's non-refundable rate it will be clearly told so in their website. Personally, I find it as one of the best site around with all inclusive ates on te front page and clear info about type of rooms, inclusions etc.

ira

Hi grey,

In today's world, there are people who are paid to write reviews, both good and bad. These folks aren't confined to reviewing places they have been.

The more blatant ones are easy to discern, eg, 22 ++++ reviews followed by someone who says the the room was too small, smelly and had bugs.

The better ones seem to be reasonable, so that the only thing you can do is to read between the lines.

I check several places before making a short list, and then I come here for evaluation.

Vpicks

I have used Booking.com a lot and I generally find the reviews fairly accurate. Unless I'm mistaken, you have to have stayed at the hotel in order to submit a review, as they email you after the stay to invite you to submit a review, so that cuts out anyone who hasn't even stayed at the hotel in question.

Vicky
http://postcards-pfte.blogspot.com/
Celebrating the Great British Coastline

easytraveler

it doesn't have to be an "either - or" choice.

If you type in the name of the hotel and the city, it'll appear on google maps. Click on the "bed" icon on the map and in the bubble, there will be "reviews" and the number of reviews, as well as a combined star rating. Go and read those reviews. They are gathered from many sources: TA, bookingdotcom, venere, qype, hostelworld, etc.